Wednesday, August 5, 2009

prayer changes things...

Sitting around the dining room table, my mother unrolled a large roll of bright yellow butcher paper. With a large black marker, she wrote in capital letters PRAYER LIST. My mother told her ten year-old twins to write down everything we were in need of… which was pretty much everything from toilet paper to food, gas to a car. We asked for food. We asked for clothes. We asked for simple needs.

But mother pushed us to not just ask for what we needed, but what we wanted deep in our hearts. We wrote down my grandfather’s name and Salvation in parenthesis. We didn’t just write down a car, we asked for a specific car that we saw on a billboard off the freeway. We even asked for the dog seated next to the car on the billboard. At the end of our time together we prayed over what seemed to be like a long list of impossibilities.

Slowly but surely dark lines began to scratch through our requests as they were answered. Neighbors would drop by extra food that they didn’t want to waste, boxes of clothes and bags of food mysteriously appeared on our porch, and we thanked God for His provisions and answered prayer. God didn’t just give us necessities—He gave us our heart’s desire. We never starved, we never lost the home, and we had clothes on our back. But what’s greater is Grandpa is in heaven, we got the exact car we dreamed of (same color, make, and model), and even though we didn’t get the labrador featured on the billboard, we did end up with a crazy mutt who we loved!

Lately I’ve been feeling like Mister Rogers trying to sell Belief in a bottle. Buy this book, drink this drink, memorize this scripture and you too can have the life you always wanted! If anything else I’m sharing hope. Hope that things can change because seasons change, hearts melt, and time heals. In the midst of our trials we knew that prayer changed things. Not that was got what we wanted from prayer but that our hearts changed to accept whatever we were dealing with and yes, even with what I currently dealing with.

Prayer changes things.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

AMEN To thiat!! nicely done B!!

jamiedelaine said...

Oh Bianca I love this post. It's so true. Psalm 37:4 is my favourite verse: He SOOO gives us the desires of our heart.

StephanieMichelle said...

Dear Bianca,
So I have been totally prowling your blog for a couple of weeks now, reading every single post. SO much you have shared has hit a point in me that has fanned away at the embers of my heart. This post has only continued to reignite that fire that I had let simmer away. Thank you for that.

Bianca said...

Thanks Anonymous!

@jamie: 1. I love that you spell favourite with a U. I'm going to be Euro and spell it like that too! Goooo Canada! 2. I love that scripture... you bless me!
@GreyGirl: Yay for coming out a revealing your presense! Woohoo :) I'm SO blessed you enjoy the posts, ergo I will continue on!

Diandra Ann said...

awesome! In my devotions this morning it was talking about how we should pray and give thanks EXPECTING things to happen. How we see Jesus do that... instead of waiting for it and THEN thanking God. Hmmm... that and then your blog... maybe God is trying to tell me something :)

renay. said...

This post is like a sweet slice of watermelon or a tall glass of lemonade with ice... so refreshing! Seriously, you encouraged me with this. Thank you for the reminder but more so for the prompting! Love you!

Sara Goetz said...

Such an inspirational post. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm always blessed! And this time especially inspired...I'm gonna do that with my kiddos! What a great idea! Sara

christy said...

wow...it's funny because lately things have been really hard for our family...but everywhere i turn, the friends i talk to, the sermons i listen to,....subject has been about prayer and to wait "anxiously"...could God be trying to tell me something:)?

thx for the post!

Anonymous said...

So my friend Kristy and I were talking last night. And you see, we're big fans of you, Jasmine Star, and Jamie Delaine. Their pictures are like nothing we've ever seen before, and your blogs and messages to everyone reading them are the same. And we concluded that you three have the spirit all over you! Your work changes people for the better. And you're encouraging. So thanks for all of it!

Bianca said...

@diandra: can't wait to speak at your youth group tonight!
@renay: thanks for the constant encouragement!
@sara: your kids will truly be blessed!!! the Lord answers our prayers in His time.
@christy: remember that God sometimes speaks in silence. Frustrating? Yes. Perfect? Of course!
@carrie: how fun!!! being on par with jamie and jas is awesome :) i just joined your blog as a follower too :)

Jasmine said...

Just so you don't forget, I drove in the front seat of our new family van before you did. Booyah! :)

Maribel said...

Tear ;) it's so encouraging to hear that God listens to the prayers of His children. (have a safe and blessed trip!)

Lydia said...

I was just talking to a friend today about marriage and praying for a future husband. I can truly rest in His arms because we serve a good God who often gives us even more than we need!

Annie said...

I guess the question that comes to my mind is how do you REALLY know what the desires of your heart are?? I mean, I have dreams and desires that I've had for more than 20 years that today seem impossible!(I know, I know, I'm not dealing with Abraham stuff here, but work with me...)

And when I even consider them now, I feel selfish. Is THAT the indicator? If so, then why do they show themselves to still be so relevant to me? Any advice you can share would be so helpful...

Tira J said...

Beautiful post B! Prayer does change things for everyone, even if they are not believers in our Lord. Please pray for a member of our APU family who went home to be with the Lord today. Joe Snell from the MEP office. I will forward you the email. Hugs to you.

Staci Landis said...

Wow. I LOVE that faith. We ourselves have been going through some very, very faith stretching times...very similar to your families prayer list all those years ago. And I bet the faith and trust that you saw has echoed into your adulthood. Thank you for such a beautiful post.

Lindsay said...

Great post Bianca!
And I love what some of the other people have said about God giving us our heart's desires...and expecting Him to answer our prayers. Just what I needed to read right now! :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, prayer changes everything. My biggest prayer, and I still need pitching because I think I'm dreaming, is my husband's salvation.

Keep it up B, will continue to carry you in my prayers. You are a vessel reaching out to thousand of woman and men and blessing them.

1717

Quirky Christa said...

So many under-estimate the POWER of prayer. Great post!

Anonymous said...

Your post truly was an encouragement. I have be skimming through your bloq quite frequently lately. I must say that its amazing to hear the story of your mother. Currently, my mom has Stage IV metastasis liver cancer. She is a beautiful woman of God and I am yet holding onto the hope that she will recover. Please say a prayer for her if you will. Her name is Pastor Sawyer - Lubbock, Tx. May God continue to bless you and your ministry.

Bianca said...

@annie: This is pandora's box and i can't answer this in a small blog comment, but 1. I'm praying for you, 2. I'm going to get you this book that awesome about answering this question, and 3. align what your heart's desire to see if it matches up with scripture. Is this God's perfect will for your life? In short, like my momma would sing to us, "Sometimes God answer yes when we pray. Sometimes God answers wait when we pray. Sometimes God answers no just because He loves us so, sometimes God answers no when we pray."

@Staci L: I know this is weird, but some my fondest memories are when we had nothing. Like Corrie Ten Boom said, "You never know Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have."

@Lubbock Texas Momma Lover: I feel your pain and I will pray for your momma! As worshippers of a sovereign God we know He does all things well, but sometimes praying for His will is difficult. I pray you have strength in this difficult season.

Unknown said...

Bianca,
Thank you for this post. I often feel selfish when praying for my wants rather than just my needs. Thank you for reminding me that God cares about my heart's desires as well as the bare necessities.

with love,
Kaitlynn

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